you had your hand in my hand
by AndKatnissRaisedHerBow
Summary: My fluffy take on the 3x01 date. There's wine, there's lots of laughing, and even a little dancing.


**a/n: Muse won't leave me alone. It seems she missed me after avoiding me since April.  
>This got out of hand, I'm not sure what I meant for it to be when I started writing but it wasn't the pure fluff that it turned into. But it came out pretty well, I think, so here's my take on the 3x01 date. Minus the Felicity-gets-hurtbomb-or-whatever-it-is thing. Mild spoilers for 3x01. Enjoy. **

"_You had my hand in your hand,  
>you had my lip in your teeth.<br>You had my heart on your sleeve,  
>you had a chance to breathe."<br>-"Damaged Goods", La Dispute_

Felicity suspected Oliver had something to do with the fact that Diggle had picked her up to take her to the restaurant. He'd dropped her off a few minutes early with a smile, wished her luck, and told her to call if she needed him to pick her up later.

"If Oliver tries to pull anything, you just let me know. I'll kick his ass," He'd told her, grinning but there was a lilt of sincerity to his voice and Felicity wished for the umpteenth time that it was possible to adopt a big brother. But instead of voicing that thought, she had kissed his cheek and given him a playful wink, telling him not to wait up.

Once she was seated inside, all the nerves she'd kept at bay came crashing down onto her and for just a moment she wondered if this was really a good idea. It wasn't like she didn't want to be there, she'd been imaging this scenario long before Oliver had finally asked her out. But something she couldn't put a name to tickled the back of her mind, sending the slightest doubts into her thoughts. But Felicity pushed it out of her mind, replacing it with the picture of his elated smile from the day before, the twinkle in his eyes that she wasn't accustomed to seeing but knew she would have no problem getting used to.

It was almost funny how normal it all seemed. Like he didn't spend his nights covered in leather, taking down criminals like some sort of modern day bow-wielding Zorro whose laundry got mixed up so his costume came out green. Like she didn't spend her nights behind a computer to help him, hacking into any database imaginable and thinking that this definitely wasn't what her professors at MIT had in mind when they told her that she would put her talent to good use.

The restaurant was nice, probably too nice considering that for the first time ever, Felicity's bank account was in better shape than Oliver's, but she hadn't tried to talk him out of. She understood that this was something he needed to do, and honestly, she was getting a little tired of takeout. So she'd smiled in agreement when he'd casually mentioned where they were going; not the nicest restaurant in Starling, but certainly not far from the top of that list.

She had been seated for only a few minutes when he walked into the room, true to his reputation of perpetual lateness. Felicity had been making small talk with the waiter while she perused the wine selection, trying to ignore the pricier bottles calling her name. She'd lifted her head, turning to the door when she swore she sensed his presence from halfway across the room. The sight of him standing there in his suit, looking at her like she'd hung the stars, made her breath catch and her heart do a dance in her chest. She'd seen him like this plenty of times, sure; it wasn't like she didn't know just how nicely he cleaned up. But the knowledge that tonight he was dressed up for _her_ did something to short circuit her brain and she couldn't have stopped the smile spreading on her face if she'd wanted to.

Oliver crossed to her in quick strides, looking every bit as awestruck and dazed as she felt. Felicity stood to meet him and only hesitated for a short second before rising to her tiptoes and reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck. Every muscle in his body relaxed against her touch as his arms came up to wind around her back and pull her even closer. She melted into him a little more when Oliver pressed his face into her hair and Felicity knew somehow that she'd never forget the way it felt to be so close to him, so blissfully wrapped up in his safety and strength.

"Hi," she said eventually, voice low and the smile on her face ringing clear in her tone.

He released her, and almost immediately Felicity missed his warmth but then his hands were sliding up her arms and coasting over her cheeks and then tucking a stray fall of blonde behind her ear, hand lingering where his knuckles brushed her skin and Felicity gave in for just a moment, leaning into the touch.

"Hey," his eyes were shining at her and his lips wore that lazy seductive smile that Felicity was sure he didn't know how to tone down.

Felicity did nothing but beam at him for a few beats, content to just look at him, so comfortable and _happy_, for as long as he'd let her.

It was Oliver that finally broke the silence again. "You look… wow. I mean, just, _whoa_. You- you're beautiful."

His voice took on a rare quality she didn't often hear from him, and if Felicity didn't know better she'd swear he sounded nervous. She let herself feel a moment of pride in the knowledge that she, of all people, had rendered Oliver Queen a stuttering, all but speechless mess.

"You don't look half bad yourself," a teasing lilt snuck into her voice as her reached out to straighten his tie, hardly noticing the action and smoothing it out before she met his eyes and saw her smile mirrored on his face.

Oliver was smiling _a lot_ tonight.

She loved being the reason for that.

The waiter still standing beside their table cleared his throat and brought them back to the world around them. They both took their seats, eyes hardly straying from the other until they were handed menus and giggling at themselves as they hummed in sync at the choices. Felicity ordered the chicken, Oliver ordered pasta. He laughed when she said she'd always thought of him as more of an extra-rare steak kind of guy.

Two hours later they were still at their table, sipping cheap wine that Oliver repeatedly apologized for being the only thing he could afford. Felicity told him the story of her first time drinking wine, how she'd snuck a sip from her mother's glass and how it was the most awful thing she'd ever tasted, how she'd sworn off wine for many years before a friend convinced her to taste a decent bottle and she'd been taken with it. Oliver had laughed, probably more at her animated storytelling than the story itself, but he didn't apologize again.

Felicity sat back in her seat, the soft buzz from the two glasses of wine and the chance at experiencing Oliver sos unguarded and open leaving her warm and giddy. She was amazed at how comfortable she felt with him like this, how natural it felt to take this step and how easy it was to sit at that table swapping stories and getting to know one another on different level than their already ceaseless knowledge of each other.

He had shared with her stories of his time on the island, and she'd told him about her less than spectacular childhood in return. They comforted each other, made each other smile both at times that were appropriate and at times that probably weren't. The time passed in a blur, moving too quickly and slowing to a near halt all at once and it felt like just minutes after they had arrived when the waiter stepped over to ask them to leave, stating that there were other customers waiting. Oliver had grimaced, obviously unaccustomed to not being treated as a VIP. Felicity rolled her eyes, swatting his hand that lay stretched towards her on the table. "Come on, those people get to eat, too. Not everybody has the benefit of being a billionaire when they go to dinner." She winked when he halfheartedly glared at her, and then the smile was back on his face and she felt accomplished.

He led her out, hand resting on the small of her back and Felicity shivered at the sparks his touch ignited, even through the scarlet fabric of her dress. They walked across the parking lot and Felicity stopped when she picked up on the music playing through the speakers at a club across the street. Her face broke out in a huge grin and Oliver shot her a puzzled look.

"I _love_ this song," she bounced slightly in her heels, reaching for his hand and tugging until he smiled back at her.

"_Walking On Sunshine_. I really should've known," his voice was playful, watching her sway and teeter excitedly as the techno remix of her old favorite song carried on the breeze.

Felicity giggled again, twisting her hips to swirl the skirt of her dress but not without catching the appreciative glance Oliver sent her at the action. It just made her smile even bigger.

Still grasping his hand, Felicity raised her arm to swing his around with it, doing a sort of half dance until he finally gave in, bouncing and pulling goofy dance moves with her right there in the middle of the parking lot like he didn't have a care in the world. It was something Felicity never thought she'd see, that's for sure, but it made her heart swell up with joy nonetheless.

When the music started fading to a close, Felicity got a little bolder. Later, she would blame it on the wine and the song. The hand still clasping Oliver's came up and she twirled, heart skipping a beat when he held it out and she spun into his chest, their bodies colliding in time with the beat as the last few notes died out and faded into some Top 40 song Felicity had heard but couldn't place.

One of his hands still held hers, their fingers having intertwined at some point as they stood there, melded together and catching their breath. The puffs of air he exhaled tickled her face and mixed with her breaths as she craned her neck just slightly to meet his eyes, her heels making up for a great deal of their substantial height difference. She secretly liked being quite a bit smaller than him, like she could so easily get lost in the expanse of his muscles and gentle touches. Like it would be the simplest thing in the world to let him curl himself around her and swallow her up entirely.

The added height of her shoes wasn't so bad either, though. It made moments like this a lot easier, all tangled together and as close as circumstance would allow. Felicity noticed that his hand not holding onto hers had found its way to her hip, tracing and circling patterns over the fabric of her dress that sent tingles exploding all over her body. She didn't even try to mask the shiver that flew through her spine.

"It's fitting," Oliver said, voice so low that if she hadn't been pressed so tightly against him she might not have heard it. Felicity hummed, head tilting to the side a little in an unspoken question.

"The song," he clarified and Felicity fell in love with their ability to communicate with hardly any words all over again. "It fits you."

"Why do you say?" she raised her eyebrow in a sort of teasing challenge, curiosity brimming in her voice, her tone low and quiet to match his. His face was inches from her, and Felicity knew that if she pushed up just a little on her toes, she could kiss him.

"Because it's just like you. You are the sunshine," The words came out as nothing more than a low rumble and Felicity felt them more than she heard them. Weighted, open, honest. He was giving her that look again, the one that she'd tried for so long to ignore because it looked almost just like the one he'd given her that night in the mansion when he'd said those three words that had changed everything. They'd pretending everything was fine, that the whole foundation of their friendship, partnership, relationship, _whatever_, hadn't been rocked that night. The frissons were forming, growing with every fleeting glance that carried a little too much weight or passing touch that lingered a little too long. But still, they'd kept right on going. As the months ticked by, Starling rebuilding and getting stronger every day, it got easier. They stopped avoiding each other's gaze, started talking again about things that weren't Arrow-related. Then he'd asked her to dinner and Felicity's world had flipped on its side again, but this time she liked to think it wasn't really a bad thing.

"Felicity," her name escaped his lips, a question and a title and a prayer all at once.

His name fell from hers, barely a sigh of the word that had come to mean so much in her mind. Safety, bravery, brokenness, _hero_.

It was all he needed.

His mouth covered hers in a nanosecond, gentle and sweet and everything Felicity had thought kissing Oliver wouldn't be. The thought crossed her mind that she'd never imagined his lips would be so soft, either.

He tasted like wine and breadsticks and he smelled like cologne and _home_.

Rising onto her toes, Felicity slanted her mouth more fully over his and then he was backing her against the side of his car and his hand was tangling in her hair and any thoughts that had found their way into her mind dissolved into nothing when he nipped at her lower lip. She made a noise she never knew she could, caught somewhere between a sigh and a whimper, wholly contented. It fell into the space between their mouths when her lips parted, eliciting a smile from Oliver that Felicity found felt even better than it looked.

His pulse was thrumming against her wrist, their heartbeats filling in the rhythm that the music had let die out. It was a song all their own, one that had been building and gaining volume for the past years and was all they could hear now that it was no longer being ignored.

She didn't know how long they stood there like that, kissing in the parking lot like a couple of teenagers. But eventually they parted, catching their breath and letting the moment soak into them, committing the feeling to memory.

Neither of them said anything for a long while, afraid that words would shatter the bubble around them.

Several moments later, it was once again Oliver that broke the silence.

"You're _my_ sunshine."

Felicity grinned at the sentiment, both at the corniness of it and the overwhelming sincerity in his voice when he said it. She had a Johnny and June quip sitting on the tip of her tongue, but then Oliver was pressing his lips to hers again, effectively swallowing any words she might have had.

Several minutes later, he was opening the passenger side door of his car for her and driving her home. She felt lightheaded and fuzzy, and she couldn't help a giggle at the thought of not what but _who_ she was intoxicated by. Felicity watched him while he drove, shooting her looks full of smiling eyes and flushed cheeks every chance he got. Their grins could give the Cheshire Cat a run for his money.

He walked her to her door when they arrived at her little townhouse, twining their fingers together and pecking her lips, whispering an "I'll see you tomorrow," in her ear before he let go and got back in his car. She didn't miss how he waited until he saw she was safely inside before he pulled off onto the road.

Felicity sank onto her bed when she walked into her bedroom, grinning like an idiot and feeling like the clichéd lead role in every chick flick she'd ever seen after their first date with their Prince Charming.

It seemed like forever before she'd see Oliver in the foundry the next day, and for the first time Felicity _really_ missed her former position as his EA.


End file.
